FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional toilet bowl configuration. Every plumbing fixture in service must be provided with a water seal to block sewer gases from coming up through the plumbing system A14, and entering the building through the plumbing fixtures A1 the water closet or the lavatory sink A15.
Most plumbing fixtures have the water seal provided by a P-trap A27 made of drainage fittings, connected to the drain A16 at the bottom of the fixture as in the lavatory sink A15. Waste passes through the drain A16, to the tail piece A17, and into the P-trap.
The water seal is the hatched area in the P-trap, beginning at the weir of the water seal A18 at the inlet of the trap and going down to the lowest point A19 in the trap and water seal, then to the weir A20 of the water seal at the outlet of the trap. The waste then goes over the weir of the trap A21 and through the dirty arm A22 and enters the inlet branch of the sanitary-tee A23.
The inlet then sweeps down 90 degrees in an arc to the waste outlet branch A24 of the sanitary-tee where the waste enters the sewer system. The third branch of the sanitary-tee is the vent branch A25 and it combines with the vent branch of the toilet A12 and travels vertically up through the roof where the vent A26 terminates and the sewer gases are allowed to dissipate harmlessly in the open atmosphere above the building.
The toilet however does not have its water seal provided by a P-trap constructed of drainage fittings connected to the toilet at the bottom of the fixture as the sink in A15 does in FIG. 1. But it has its water seal provided by an internal water trap, incorporated in the casting of the toilet bowl itself. This is identified by the hatched area of the toilet bowl in FIG. 1 & FIG. 2.
In these drawings A2 identifies the weir of the water seal in the toilet bowl, A3 identifies the lowest point of the water seal in the water trap of the toilet bowl and A4 identifies the weir of the water seal in the water trap of the toilet bowl. And A7 is the weir of the water trap itself. A1 identifies the toilet bowl itself and A5 the toilet tank itself.
After passing through the toilet bowl A1 and the waste depository A9, the waste is deposited vertically into the closet bend A10, which is connected to the bottom of the toilet bowl. This drainage fitting has no water trap and provides no water. It conveys the waste to the inlet branch A11 of the unitary-tee, the waste then passes through A13 the outlet branch of the sanitary-tee and into the sewer system A14.
For over 200 years water closets have been flushed with water from toilet tanks A5 and flushometer valves, which use the hydro-mechanics of flushing to push the contents of the toilet bowl through the internal water trap A6, and over the weir of the water trap A7, following the arrows A8 through the water trap to the waste depository A9 or 9 in FIGS. 3 to 6.
Leaving the bottom of the toilet the contents are deposited into the closet bend A10, which conveys the waste to the inlet branch A11 of the sanitary-tee and down into the sewer system A14. In effect flushing raises the waste over the weir of the trap in order to flow down hill to the sewer. And A12 is the vent branch of the sanitary-tee.
In the field of reducing the amount of water used to accomplish this function of draining the contents of the toilet bowl, all efforts have been focused on improving the efficiency of the flushing action and not finding a more efficient mechanism to accomplish this critical function.
Only the force of gravity exerted on the waste itself is needed to drain a tub a shower or a kitchen sink, and there must be a more efficient means to drain the contents of the toilet. Certainly sewer gases must be prevented from entering the building, and the water seal maintained. But pushing the waste up-hill makes no sense. There must be a way and means of using the force of gravity to our advantage.
If I deposit 2 ounces of waste then use 200 ounces of clean potable water to flush it to the sewer that makes no sense and is totally inefficient. There must be a way and means of using the force of gravity to drain the waste down hill as for all other plumbing fixtures, instead of fighting gravity up-hill, the way it does with the water closet.